Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major health problem that leads to chronic liver disease, such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, in a substantial number of infected individuals, estimated to be 2-15% of the world's population. There are an estimated 4.5 million infected people in the United States alone, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control. According to the World Health Organization, there are more than 200 million infected individuals worldwide, with at least 3 to 4 million people being infected each year. Once infected, about 20% of people clear the virus, but the rest can harbor HCV the rest of their lives. Ten to twenty percent of chronically infected individuals eventually develop liver-destroying cirrhosis or cancer. The viral disease is transmitted parenterally by contaminated blood and blood products, contaminated needles, or sexually and vertically from infected mothers or carrier mothers to their offspring. Current treatments for HCV infection, which are restricted to immunotherapy with recombinant interferon-α alone or in combination with the nucleoside analog ribavirin, are of limited clinical benefit as resistance develops rapidly. Moreover, there is no established vaccine for HCV. Consequently, there is an urgent need for improved therapeutic agents that effectively combat chronic HCV infection.
The HCV virion is an enveloped positive-strand RNA virus with a single oligoribonucleotide genomic sequence of about 9600 bases which encodes a polyprotein of about 3,010 amino acids. The protein products of the HCV gene consist of the structural proteins C, E1, and E2, and the non-structural proteins NS2, NS3, NS4A and NS4B, and NS5A and NS5B. The nonstructural (NS) proteins are believed to provide the catalytic machinery for viral replication. The NS3 protease releases NS5B, the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from the polyprotein chain. HCV NS5B polymerase is required for the synthesis of a double-stranded RNA from a single-stranded viral RNA that serves as a template in the replication cycle of HCV. Therefore, NS5B polymerase is considered to be an essential component in the HCV replication complex (K. Ishi, et al, Heptology, 1999, 29: 1227-1235; V. Lohmann, et al., Virology, 1998, 249: 108-118). Inhibition of HCV NS5B polymerase prevents formation of the double-stranded HCV RNA and therefore constitutes an attractive approach to the development of HCV-specific antiviral therapies.
HCV belongs to a much larger family of viruses that share many common features.
Flaviviridae Viruses
The Flaviviridae family of viruses comprises at least three distinct genera: pestiviruses, which cause disease in cattle and pigs; flavivruses, which are the primary cause of diseases such as dengue fever and yellow fever; and hepaciviruses, whose sole member is HCV. The flavivirus genus includes more than 68 members separated into groups on the basis of serological relatedness (Calisher et al., J. Gen. Virol, 1993, 70, 37-43). Clinical symptoms vary and include fever, encephalitis and hemorrhagic fever (Fields Virology, Editors: Fields, B. N., Knipe, D. M., and Howley, P. M., Lippincott-Raven Publishers, Philadelphia, Pa., 1996, Chapter 31, 931-959). Flaviviruses of global concern that are associated with human disease include the Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever viruses (DHF), yellow fever virus, shock syndrome and Japanese encephalitis virus (Halstead, S. B., Rev. Infect. Dis., 1984, 6, 251-264; Halstead, S. B., Science, 239:476-481, 1988; Monath, T. P., New Eng. J Med, 1988, 319, 64 1-643).
The pestivirus genus includes bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), classical swine fever virus (CSFV, also called hog cholera virus) and border disease virus (BDV) of sheep (Moennig, V. et al. Adv. Vir. Res. 1992, 41, 53-98). Pestivirus infections of domesticated livestock (cattle, pigs and sheep) cause significant economic losses worldwide. BVDV causes mucosal disease in cattle and is of significant economic importance to the livestock industry (Meyers, G. and Thiel, H. J., Advances in Virus Research, 1996, 47, 53-118; Moennig V., et al, Adv. Vir. Res. 1992, 41, 53-98). Human pestiviruses have not been as extensively characterized as the animal pestiviruses. However, serological surveys indicate considerable pestivirus exposure in humans.
Pestiviruses and hepaciviruses are closely related virus groups within the Flaviviridae family. Other closely related viruses in this family include the GB virus A, GB virus A-like agents, GB virus-B and GB virus-C (also called hepatitis G virus, HGV). The hepacivirus group (hepatitis C virus; HCV) consists of a number of closely related but genotypically distinguishable viruses that infect humans. There are at least 6 HCV genotypes and more than 50 subtypes. Due to the similarities between pestiviruses and hepaciviruses, combined with the poor ability of hepaciviruses to grow efficiently in cell culture, bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is often used as a surrogate to study the HCV virus.
The genetic organization of pestiviruses and hepaciviruses is very similar. These positive stranded RNA viruses possess a single large open reading frame (ORF) encoding all the viral proteins necessary for virus replication. These proteins are expressed as a polyprotein that is co- and post-translationally processed by both cellular and virus-encoded proteinases to yield the mature viral proteins. The viral proteins responsible for the replication of the viral genome RNA are located within approximately the carboxy-terminal. Two-thirds of the ORF are termed nonstructural (NS) proteins. The genetic organization and polyprotein processing of the nonstructural protein portion of the ORF for pestiviruses and hepaciviruses is very similar. For both the pestiviruses and hepaciviruses, the mature nonstructural (NS) proteins, in sequential order from the amino-terminus of the nonstructural protein coding region to the carboxy-terminus of the ORF, consist of p7, NS2, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, NS5A, and NS5B.
The NS proteins of pestiviruses and hepaciviruses share sequence domains that are characteristic of specific protein functions. For example, the NS3 proteins of viruses in both groups possess amino acid sequence motifs characteristic of serine proteinases and of helicases (Gorbalenya et al., Nature, 1988, 333, 22; Bazan and Fletterick Virology, 1989, 171, 637-639; Gorbalenya et al., Nucleic Acid Res., 1989, 17, 3889-3897). Similarly, the NS5B proteins of pestiviruses and hepaciviruses have the motifs characteristic of RNA-directed RNA polymerases (Koonin, E. V. and Doija, V. V., Crir. Rev. Biochem. Molec. Biol. 1993, 28, 375-430).
The actual roles and functions of the NS proteins of pestiviruses and hepaciviruses in the lifecycle of the viruses are directly analogous. In both cases, the NS3 serine proteinase is responsible for all proteolytic processing of polyprotein precursors downstream of its position in the ORF (Wiskerchen and Collett, Virology, 1991, 184, 341-350; Bartenschlager et al., J. Virol. 1993, 67, 3835-3844; Eckart et al. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 1993, 192, 399-406; Grakoui et al., J. Virol. 1993, 67, 2832-2843; Grakoui et al., Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. USA 1993, 90, 10583-10587; Hijikata et al., J. Virol. 1993, 67, 4665-4675; Tome et al., J. Virol., 1993, 67, 4017-4026). The NS4A protein, in both cases, acts as a cofactor with the NS3 serine protease (Bartenschlager et al., J. Virol. 1994, 68, 5045-5055; Failla et al., J. Virol. 1994, 68, 3753-3760; Xu et al., J. Virol., 1997, 71:53 12-5322). The NS3 protein of both viruses also functions as a helicase (Kim et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 1995, 215, 160-166; Jin and Peterson, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 1995, 323, 47-53; Warrener and Collett, J. Virol. 1995, 69, 1720-1726). Finally, the NS5B proteins of pestiviruses and hepaciviruses have the predicted RNA-directed RNA polymerases activity (Behrens et al., EMBO, 1996, 15, 12-22; Lechmann et al., J. Virol., 1997, 71, 8416-8428; Yuan et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 1997, 232, 231-235; Hagedorn, PCT WO 97/12033; Zhong et al, J. Virol., 1998, 72, 9365-9369).
Currently, there are limited treatment options for individuals infected with hepatitis C virus. The current approved therapeutic option is the use of immunotherapy with recombinant interferon-α alone or in combination with the nucleoside analog ribavirin. This therapy is limited in its clinical effectiveness and only 50% of treated patients respond to therapy. Therefore, there is significant need for more effective and novel therapies to address the unmet medical need posed by HCV infection.
A number of potential molecular targets for drug development of direct acting antivirals as anti-HCV therapeutics have now been identified including, but not limited to, the NS2-NS3 autoprotease, the N3 protease, the N3 helicase and the NS5B polymerase. The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase is absolutely essential for replication of the single-stranded, positive sense, RNA genome and this enzyme has elicited significant interest among medicinal chemists.
Inhibitors of HCV NS5B as potential therapies for HCV infection have been reviewed: Tan, S.-L., et al., Nature Rev. Drug Discov., 2002, 1, 867-881; Walker, M. P. et al., Exp. Opin. Investigational Drugs, 2003, 12, 1269-1280; Ni, Z-J., et al., Current Opinion in Drug Discovery and Development, 2004, 7, 446-459; Beaulieu, P. L., et al., Current Opinion in Investigational Drugs, 2004, 5, 838-850; Wu, J., et al., Current Drug Targets-Infectious Disorders, 2003, 3, 207-219; Griffith, R. C., et al, Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry, 2004, 39, 223-237; Carrol, S., et al., Infectious Disorders-Drug Targets, 2006, 6, 17-29. The potential for the emergence of resistant HCV strains and the need to identify agents with broad genotype coverage supports the need for continuing efforts to identify novel and more effective nucleosides as HCV NS5B inhibitors.
Nucleoside inhibitors of NS5B polymerase can act either as a non-natural substrate that results in chain termination or as a competitive inhibitor which competes with nucleotide binding to the polymerase. To function as a chain terminator the nucleoside analog must be taken up by the cell and converted in vivo to a triphosphate to compete for the polymerase nucleotide binding site. This conversion to the triphosphate is commonly mediated by cellular kinases which imparts additional structural requirements on a potential nucleoside polymerase inhibitor. Unfortunately, this limits the direct evaluation of nucleosides as inhibitors of HCV replication to cell-based assays capable of in situ phosphorylation.
In some cases, the biological activity of a nucleoside is hampered by its poor substrate characteristics for one or more of the kinases needed to convert it to the active triphosphate form. Formation of the monophosphate by a nucleoside kinase is generally viewed as the rate limiting step of the three phosphorylation events. To circumvent the need for the initial phosphorylation step in the metabolism of a nucleoside to the active triphosphate analog, the preparation of stable phosphate prodrugs has been reported. Nucleoside cyclic phosphate prodrugs have been shown to be precursors of the active nucleoside triphosphate and to inhibit viral replication when administered to viral infected whole cells (PCT Int. App. WO 2007/027248 A2; Bi-Organic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 2007, Vol 17, Page 2452-2455; Journal of American Chemical Society, 1990, Vol 112, Page 7475-7482.)
Also limiting the utility of nucleosides as viable therapeutic agents is their sometimes poor physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties. These poor properties can limit the intestinal absorption of an agent and limit uptake into the target tissue or cell. To improve on their properties prodrugs of nucleosides have been employed.